For a Living Amazon!

The extraordinary Amazon

No other place on Earth showcases the diversity of life like the Amazon. It’s a vast region that spans across eight countries and one overseas territory: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana/ France.

In the Amazon Biome you will find:
• One in ten known species on Earth
• The world´s largest remaining tropical forest containing 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, the release of even a portion of which would accelerate global warming significantly
• The largest river basin on the planet with one million km2 of freshwater ecosytems

And 34 million people living in the Amazon, including 385 indigenous groups, depend on its resources and services – not to mention many millions more living as far away as Latin America, North America and Europe, but still within the Amazon’s far-reaching climatic influence.

For these and many other reasons the Amazon also inspires action, and WWF’s Living Amazon Initiative (LAI) is its main actor addressing challenges and implementing solutions a region so important to all of us. The WWF brings together more than 40 years of experience focused on protecting the Amazon region. The forces that shape the Amazon extend far beyond a local context and know no political boundaries. Through the Living Amazon, WWF leverages network-wide efforts to protect the Amazon as a whole, to enhance biodiversity conservation and to address and reduce human impact on the Amazon’s critical habitat.

The Amazon is one of the most important places on Earth, we are not only number one in biodiversity, in freshwater ecosystems but also in carbon stocks. The Amazon is also quite important in terms of the interaction biosphere/atmosphere which means the Amazon is crucial for the world climate.

Cláudio Maretti, WWF Living Amazon Initiative Leader

Our vision for the Amazon is:

An ecologically healthy Amazon Biome that maintains its environmental and cultural contribution to local peoples, the countries of the region, and the world, within a framework of social equity, inclusive economic development and global responsibility.

WWF Goals

The diversity of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of the Amazon Biome is conserved to ensure the survival of the species that live there and the continued provision of environmental goods and services to local peoples, the countries of the region, and the world.

The quality, quantity, and timing of flow regimes in priority rivers and their headwaters are maintained at levels that ensure the integrity of aquatic ecosystems and the continued provision of ecological services that sustain local livelihoods and regional economies.

The region’s political and institutional framework supports the implementation of a climate-adaptive conservation and development agenda that increases the resilience of the Amazon Biome’s key ecological process and services.